


Crossing Borders

by Manny_bgm



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 07:31:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16425071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manny_bgm/pseuds/Manny_bgm
Summary: Harry and Ginny start dating at the end of Order of the Phoenix, and Harry takes Ginny to meet his family.





	Crossing Borders

Ginny said goodbye to her parents and followed Harry through King’s Cross, towards his family, the Dursleys. Harry had promised to introduce her to his aunt and uncle now that they were a couple. He was also going to try and have her stay with them for a few weeks. He needed to return there anyway, as it was a safe haven for him, and he really wanted to her to come with him so he wouldn’t be alone with them again. Ginny was fine with this, but she wasn’t too keen on meeting his family.  
Harry had told her that his aunt and uncle were horrible people who hated anything to do with magic. They had treated Harry quite terribly for his entire life. In addition to that, they already had bad blood with Ginny’s family. While she had never met them herself, her dad had blown up their sitting room only two summers ago, when he had picked up Harry for the Quidditch World Cup.  
To top it all off, it looked like several members of the Order of the Phoenix, most notably Moody, had just finished warning them about something. Now that Moody and the others had walked away, Ginny could get a closer look at Harry’s family. They didn’t look too cheerful.

At the edge of the platform stood three people waiting for Harry. In front was a large, round, purple-faced man with a beefy moustache and a very short neck. He was accompanied by a boy who was almost as large and of similar build, with slimy blond hair, not unlike Draco Malfoy’s. Just behind them stood the figure of a bony, horse-faced woman, whose unusually long neck seemed to compensate for the fact that her husband and son hardly had any.

“Hullo.” Harry said cheerfully, grinning at them. It was his uncle, Mr. Dursley, who spoke first.

“What was up with those people of... _your lot_ ,” he said with a very gruff voice (Ginny assumed ‘your lot’ was the man’s way of referring to anyone magical). “Just who do they think they are, lecturing me like that?”

“Oh, just some friends.” Harry told them, who still seemed very amused. “Speaking of which, I want to introduce you to someone.”

“Whozzat?” Mr. Dursley growled, now giving Ginny a very suspicious look.

“This is Ginny Weasley, my girlfriend.” Harry said, beaming at Ginny very proudly.

All three Dursleys stared at them as though Harry had shouted a disgusting swear word. Ginny could not tell which part had shocked them more; “Weasley” or “girlfriend”, but she was dead certain that they were fully aware which family she belonged to. Mrs. Dursley seemed to be eyeing her very closely, frowning. Mr. Dursley’s face was even more purple than it had been before, and the blond boy made an odd squeaking noise.

“Hi there.” Ginny said, feeling that things were already awkward.

The moment Ginny spoke, Mrs. Dursley stared at Harry as though she wanted to say something to him, but then she seemed to decide against it. She then looked back at Ginny again.  
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” she said acidly, curling her mouth in a very forced smile. Ginny didn’t know if it was her long red hair or her untucked yellow shirt, but she couldn’t help but feel that something about her appearance seemed to annoy Mrs. Dursley to no end.  
Ginny’s eyes caught Harry’s, and he understood that they had better get to the meat of this conversation.  
“I was wondering,” Harry started, “whether she could stay with us for a little while.”

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were now looking at Ginny as though Harry had just asked them to adopt a Hungarian Horntail. The blond boy looked rather frightened, his large hands clamped on his bottom.

“Only for a few weeks, and then we’re both going back to my place.” Ginny assured them.

Mr. Dursley seemed to be thinking it over, looked at his wife, nodded, and said “Well, I don’t see why not. But I don’t know if we have space...”

“We have a spare bedroom, don’t we?” Harry suggested. “The one Aunt Marge usually stays in!”

“Yes, now that you mention her, I believe she said she was visiting this summer!” he said quickly.

“Funny, I didn’t think she’d want to visit anymore when I’m around”, said Harry coolly. “Not after what happened three years ago...”

Ginny forced herself not to laugh. She vaguely remembered Harry telling her how he once accidentally blew up his aunt Marge after her extremely provoking complaints about his parents.  
Apparently, Mr. Dursley had remembered it too, as he seemed to be acknowledging the incident. With seemingly no other option, he gave his verdict.“Ah yes, I remember that Marge was going to the Canary islands this summer instead!” Then he turned to Ginny, addressing her for the first time. “Well then, eh...  _Jenny_... you can come with us."

“Cool, thanks.” Ginny said casually, ignoring the fact that Mr. Dursley had just mispronounced her name. She could tell that she wasn’t very welcome, but she could hardly find it in herself to care. After all, Harry had told her that it was standard procedure by now for the Dursleys to ignore the fact that Harry was in any way a part of their household, so Ginny had not expected them to treat her any better.

The car ride to their house was not fun. The blond boy, whose name turned out to be Dudley, was so large that he seemed to occupy the entire backseat of the car by himself. He sat in the center, and at either side next to him sat Harry and Ginny, who were squeezed between Dudley and the car doors so tightly that they felt they might suffocate. Harry and Ginny could not even see each other from where they were positioned, as Dudley’s body fat took up most of their view. Dudley himself seemed very uncomfortable as well. He wore a constant look of fear as though he was about to be attacked, but he also kept eyeing Ginny in a way that she did not appreciate. There was no space left for Hedwig at all. Harry had to release her at King’s Cross so that she could fly home independently.

When they arrived at 4 Privet Drive, Ginny quickly noted how extremely different it looked from any home she had ever seen. It was nothing like the cozy warmth of the Burrow, the crooked, towering structure of which she was so familiar with, or even like 12 Grimmauld Place; which was dark, dusty and ancient, giving it a very ominous vibe.  
Instead, 4 Privet Drive looked stiff, right-angled, and rather flat, as though it lacked any sign of personality whatsoever. Every wall had been painted with either white or dull pink wallpaper, and every corner of the house was so clean looking that it was almost unnatural.  
Then again, Ginny had never been in a Muggle home before, and now that she thought of it, she wondered if Hermione’s house looked similar to this one.

The Dursleys offered Ginny no hospitality beyond asking her what she would like to drink, and she was all the happier for it. Politely accepting a glass of water, she quickly drank it and left the sitting room soon afterwards, rushing to help Harry bring both of their trunks upstairs.

When they had done so, Harry led Ginny into his bedroom, and she was pleased to see that it was a lot messier and more lively then the rest of the house. There were several old article snippets from _The_   _Daily Prophet_ spread across the floor, and there hung a bright Gryffindor emblem on the wall. At Harry’s suggestion, she plonked herself down on his bed. Next moment, Hedwig came flying through the window, and landed gracefully on his bed as well. Ginny softly stroked her feathers and smiled widely at Harry, who looked equally relieved that they were finally alone.

 


End file.
